When less is more
by Freya's Valhalla
Summary: Because Sasuke's daugther is bound to eventually learn about her uncle, Uchiha Itachi. Post-war. Canon (written pre-Gaiden). Oneshot.


_**I'll be honest; I'm not glad that Sakura and Sasuke are canon, even though I'd known for ages that they would inevitably end up together for the sake of plot. I don't dig poorly developed pairings. However, the idea of Sasuke having offspring thrills me.**_

…

_**1.**_

Uchiha Sarada is five years old when she first greets her uncle's memory. His name is carved in a wooden altar, next to dozens of others, and she traces each symbol before playing this newly discovered word on her lips. _Itachi_. Sakura is kneeling next to her, clad in a white and red kimono; carefully arranging the disposition of the white chrysanthemums they've brought. The shrine is located in one of the village's oldest neighborhoods, apparently her family's former propriety, now turned into a flourishing trading district. Sarada spots the remains of two incense sticks scattered on top of Itachi's name.

"Ne, okasan, is this Itachi my uncle?" She asks with studied calmness, adjusting her glasses to read the other names on display.

Sakura rolls up her sleeves and looks at her daughter.

"Hai."

Sarada nods. Sakura had told her that same morning they'd be visiting a very special person; her uncle, Sasuke's older brother, who was no longer among them. Sarada knew that everybody had two sets of grandparents, just as she knew that unlike her mothers', whom they visited once a week, her paternal grandfathers were dead. Never before had she heard about an uncle. "_Today is a special day, Sarada, go put on the pretty pink kimono Ino gave you for your birthday. We're going to visit your uncle, _she smiled, "_his name was Uchiha Itachi." _She needn't say more, her daughter was exceptionally bright –unsurprisingly- and she knew Sarada thought that less was always more. It was an inherited trait.

_**2.**_

Uchiha Sarada is ten years old when she first greets her uncle in her father's presence.

"Otousan, we need to go visit ojisan, obasan and Itachi-jisan today. Okasan and I go every year on _Bon_."

Sasuke is sitting in the living room reading the newspaper. He's startled by both the command and the realization that he hasn't been in Konoha for the annual ancestral ceremony for years, because he had no idea that Sakura had already taken Sarada to the Uchiha shrine. Moreover, she'd made a tradition out of it. Sarada is out in the yard, looming over several biology books and glances at her father awaiting a response. Sasuke lowers his gaze, newspaper still in hand. He'll have to talk to Sakura when she gets back home from her one week emergency transplant training.

"Have you finished your homework?"

She closes her books and stands up, dusting off pieces of dirt from her shorts.

"I finished it yesterday", she walks towards the house and sighs, "so easy. Why can't I skip a year? I want to start ninjutsu training." Sasuke shrugs off his daughter's condescension and sips at his tea.

"Go upstairs and change. We have to make it in time for lunch with Naruto and Hinata."

"Flowers." Sarada interrupts, "We have to go to the Yamanaka's first; you must always bring flowers to the deceased, otousan. Okasan says so."

_**...**_

Sasuke follows his daughter into the shrine, taking in the familiar paintings and scrolls he came to know so well once he became the last breathing Uchiha. _Not anymore, _he thinks as he watches his daughter carry the chrysanthemums to the altar.

"Ne, otousan, can I ask you a question?"

Sasuke stares at her from the entrance, folding his arms over his chest.

"Yes."

Sarada starts tracing her fingers over her uncle's name, just as she has done every single time.

"I know about the Uchiha." For a second, Sasuke's heart stops, thinking of the endless implications behind that statement; the history; the hate; the curse. "I know that they were murdered and that we're the only remaining clan members." Sasuke's muscles relax. "Anyone can access that information. I also know who was officially charged with the, um, _genocide? _She tests the unfamiliar word. "But shrines are built to honor the dead, and I know okasan is good because she's kind to me and to other people and so she wouldn't honor someone evil." She folds her hands on her lap, "She wouldn't want _me_ to honor someone evil."

Silence hangs between them. Sasuke frowns and closes his eyes. He wants to hug his daughter, because she's too clever for her own good, but does not allow himself to move.

"So?" Sarada's voice disrupts his thoughts and Sasuke smirks to himself.

"You have asked no question yet."

Sarada jerks her head towards him to catch his gaze and bites at her lower lip like her mother would. He thinks she'll ask if Itachi was a good person, if Itachi was indeed a murderer, if Itachi hurt him. Instead, his daughter asks him if he'd want Itachi to be with them, to which his eyes widen and he answers with what feels like the best answer he could give.

"I think he would've liked you very much." Sarada grins softly.

She got a hundred answers from one question, because less is always more.

_**...**_

Sarada squashes her ear against the wall next to her parent's bedroom. She's glad neither of them are sensor types.

"You didn't tell me you'd taken Sarada to the Uchiha shrine. She asked me to go together last Sunday, for _Bon_." She heard her father said.

Sakura slides her yukata on and sighs.

"I guess I should've told you, I just thought… well…" She looks at him apologetically. "I didn't know how you'd react." _You're never around, Sasuke. When am I supposed to ask? _She almost blurted out. "Did something happen?"

Sasuke is focused on his reading.

"She asked if I wished Itachi were here, with us." Sakura sits on the bed next to him and slides a hand over his thigh. She did not expect for him to share the answer he'd given.

"I thought she deserved to know she had an uncle, regardless of everything it entails. Family is important… you above everyone else should know." Sakura added. Sasuke looked away from his book. "I didn't tell her about… that's your choice."

Sasuke chuckled.

"What is there to tell? What father would want to tell her daughter such a gruesome story?"

"A father who wants her daughter to be the best version of her", Sakura replies in all seriousness. "No one says it will be pretty, but if she knows the truth, then she can learn from those errors. Like you did."

"I know that", Sasuke protested. "I know the consequences of lies and half truths", he lowered his voice, "but you don't understand… the burden in our blood runs deep."

Sakura watches Sasuke retreat into their bathroom.

_The burden in her heart will be greater than the one in her blood if you keep on leaving._

_**3.**_

Uchiha Sarada is thirteen years old when she first punches a boy. Sakura is called into Iruka-sensei's office while she's at the hospital and she rushes down to the academy as soon as she gets a break. Iruka informs her that apparently Sarada had been harassed by a couple of older boys and she'd gotten physical before he'd arrived and separated them. Sakura starts telling him her daughter is not at all aggressive, but Iruka quickly stops her from apologizing. He's known Sarada for years now and he reminds Sakura with a big smile that she was also once one of his best students.

"Only after Sasuke", she offers, voice full of longing. Iruka's smile falters.

"Sarada is by far the most excelling student of her promotion, Sakura, I can assure you that. She's got the best of you two."

_Does she?_ Sakura is grateful for Iruka's considerate words. It is not a secret that Sasuke wanders the world more than he eats dinner with his family; Sakura is not sure what goodness he's passed onto his daughter.

"Do you know what they said to her? To make her so angry," Sakura asked. Iruka brushes back his hair with one hand.

"Sorry Sakura, she wouldn't tell. But maybe she'll tell you."

On the way back home, Sakura tries to coerce Sarada into talking, but she's silent the whole time. Sakura wishes Sasuke were here, but he's been away for two months now and she's not sure when he'll be back.

"I want to visit the shrine", Sarada suddenly says. Sakura glances down at her clueless and pats her head.

"Of course, sweetie."

As soon as they arrive, Sarada rushes to the altar and kneels down in front of Itachi's name.

"They've told me really bad things about you, ojisan. Maybe otousan has forgiven you, although I don't know exactly why, but… I can't. It's… It's your fault otousan won't stay, I know it is. So I'm sorry, but I can't visit you anymore, not while you keep otousan away from me!" Sarada storms off the shrine, leaving Sakura stunned to silence. She leans back on the wall, tears rolling down her cheeks, before running after her daughter.

_**4.**_

Uchiha Sarada is still thirteen years old when she finally learns the truth behind the person who'll forever haunt her father. _Either you tell her or I do, _had been Sakura's dictum to Sasuke when she'd gone to bed with her husband three weeks after Sarada had forsaken Itachi's memory. Sasuke had kissed Sakura's back as she'd given him the cold shoulder, before going out for a walk. One hour later, he sneaked into his daughter's room and watched her sleep from a distance, until she stirred and rolled on her side to stare back at him.

"Your presence is too strong if you do nothing to conceal it, otousan." Sasuke smirked and sat next to her.

"Only because your senses are so sharp."

Sarada grinned under her cascading strands of hair.

"How long have you been staring at me for? Lurking in my room in the dark like that is creepy."

Sasuke frowned. "I'll stare at you for as long as I want", he replied with a fake menacing tone.

"Otousan!"

"Hush, your mother is asleep."

Sarada pulled down the bed covers and sat up.

"Then you should be sleeping as well." She knew Sasuke suffered from insomnia, Sakura had told her it was not rare for Sasuke to not sleep for two days and still function normally. "Is something wrong? It's pretty late."

"Everything is fine, go to sleep. You have class tomorrow."

He helped Sarada pull the covers back up as she settled in bed and sat still next to her. Sarada noticed his unease.

"Otousan?" She held the sheets tightly to her mouth and mumbled under them. "You know, you can tell me whatever you want. I promise I won't tell okasan."

Sasuke reached to smooth out her hair.

"Actually I do have something to tell you", he shifted his gaze to the wall; he did not want to see the look on her face. "It's about someone I… cared for very much, someone who hurt me very much as well. You see, it doesn't really matter if someone is good for you or not, because in the end, their importance is weighed on how much they hurt you. It's the pain that sticks, not the affection."

Sarada glared at Sasuke and swallowed hard. He sensed her breath hitch and stared down at her. A small smile tugged at his lips now.

"At least that's what I used to think."

Sasuke tells Sarada about the massacre, about the coup d'état, the clan's bloody history. He reveals Itachi's commitment, Itachi's threat; Itachi's role. He even shares with her a brief account of his life as a rogue and promises to give more details in the future, when she's older. Only one story does he keep to himself; Sarada will never know that her father almost tried to kill her mother. Sarada weeps silently, face buried under her covers as she listens to her father spill out his past in the dark.

…

Uchiha Sarada is lying in her bed at 1am face down when she forgives Uchiha Itachi. As Sasuke slowly runs his hand up and down his daughter's back; he forgives himself.

…

_**My first fanfiction on Sasuke's daughter: congrats to myself.**_

_**As usual, reviews are welcomed. **_


End file.
